FACEBOOK CONQUERS.

Remember how we looked at the top-viewed websites around the world in class? Well…our beloved Google just released a Top 1000 Sites list using data from the company DoubleClick Ad Planner. However, this list doesn’t include Google (because let’s face it, there really isn’t much of a point telling us what we already know), adult websites, or ad networks.

Sooo, guess who topped the list? Bet you can’t guess from the name of the post. That’s right, it’s Facebook, followed by Yahoo, Live, and Wikipedia. Unlike the other list that we looked at, this list actually has slightly newer sites such as Bing (#13) and Twitter (#18) on them. Is it surprising that something like Twitter is in top 20 when its major audience is only in the US? Not really actually, since Baidu (which is basically China’s version of Google) dominates at #8 on the list. Myspace lags slightly behind at #26, which shows that Facebook is without a doubt the top social networking site at the moment.

The list raises questions as to why these sites are in the positions that they are. Google has also smartly added a column to the list that tells us whether or not the site has advertising, which is really interesting. If you want to take a look at the list yourself, click here.

Celebrating…Pacman!

If you go to Google today, you’ll see that they’ve changed their logo to something AWESOME: to celebrate their 30th anniversary, Google has changed its logo to a Pacman game that’s fully playable! The button that used to say “I’m Feeling Lucky!” now says “Insert Coin”, which is what you press to start the game. Okay this is a really short post but this is so cool I couldn’t NOT blog about it.

INTELLIGENT ALIENS TAKING OVER EARTH’S RESOURCES?

Recently, world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking posited the existence of intelligent aliens on his new TV show. He predicted that these aliens would be somewhat like nomads: they would suck their own planet dry of resources and proceed by hopping from one planet to another to “refuel”. Hawking said, “If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans.” He added that instead of seeking aliens, we should be doing everything we can to avoid them.

In my opinion, Hawking’s speculations aren’t all that crazy. I mean, we’re just one tiny planet in the whole universe – a universe which holds around a hundred billion galaxies, each galaxy holding hundreds of millions of stars. Is it that impossible that other intelligent beings exist without us knowing? I don’t think so…there are possibilities out there that are beyond our imagination. As for aliens being comparable to nomads, that too is a possibility. If these intelligent beings evolved in a similar way as we did, they too would have the natural instinct to self-preserve. If that means they have to neo-colonize, then yeah. It’s not too hard to believe.

JESUS CHRIST.

So this definitely ties into a lot of the stuff we’ve been discussing in class about South Park’s Muhammad episodes: Comedy Central is developing an animated series about Jesus Christ. The show is called JC, and the story line is that Jesus wants to escape the shadow of his “powerful but apathetic father” and start a typical life for himself in New York City. Wow. S0 after the airing of South Park’s most recent two episodes, which made fun of MANY religions, Comedy Central realized that they could make fun of anything EXCEPT Muhammad…and came up with this!

Kent Alterman, the head of original programming at Comedy Central says, “In general, comedy in purist form always makes some people uncomfortable.” You sure said it, Kent. I wonder how many Muslims watch Comedy Central? And now I wonder how many Christians watch Comedy Central? Hmm. Oh by the way, I forgot to mention…in JC, all God does is play video games while Christ is the “ultimate fish out of water” in the big city. Well, this should be interesting. Will YOU be tuning in to watch JC? I definitely will…and I’ll be holding my breath the whole time.

NO CHANCE OF ANCHORMAN 2

Anyone who was looking forward to the possible reviving of Ron Burgundy and his crew will be disappointed. Director Adam McKay was hopeful that there would be a sequel, but he’s just made a press release that it’s not going to happen because Paramount has passed on the idea:

“So bummed. Paramount basically passed on Anchorman 2. Even after we cut our budget down. We tried…To all who asked: no we can’t do Anchorman 2 at another studio. Paramount owns it.”

So that’s it? Anchorman is dead? Bummmerrr. I mean, if there WAS a sequel, there would be a huge possibility that it wouldn’t live up to the original’s standards (like most sequels). Just take a look at The Boondock Saints: first movie? Beyond epic. Second movie? Still pretty good, but everyone was so hyped up about it that they got disappointed by the sequel. Nevertheless, it would’ve been incredibly interesting to find out what Anchorman 2 would’ve been like, you know? I feel like it would still be a hilarious movie to watch, even if it were to be a lot crappier than the original. Oh well. May Ron Burgundy and his team rest in peace.

MARKETING STUNT GONE WRONG

The discussion we had in our last class about the iPhone 4G stunt got me really interested in reading about marketing stunts (or what’s called ‘guerrilla marketing’.) the iPhone stunt was pretty simple yet genius – it got LOADS of people talking and there are even pictures of the new iPhone 4G up online. People don’t want to hear a press release about the product from Apple because that isn’t very exciting…knowing things about an upcoming product that you “shouldn’t” know yet makes the specifications and such about the product interesting and juicy news. These type of marketing stunts are incredibly effective and fun – if done right, that is.

I came across an article about a marketing stunt in New Zealand. A man dressed in bloody bandages ran around the streets of Auckland, pointing a gun at people. Naturally, somebody called the police and they grabbed the man. Turns out, the man was an actor and the gun was fake…it was all a stunt to promote an action-heavy video game called Splinter Cell: Conviction. Interesting plan, but pretty damn dangerous? It’s a good thing New Zealand is a pretty chilled out place, because it’s possible the actor could’ve gotten really hurt (maybe even die?) if this happened somewhere else, like the states. Question is – did the plan work? I mean, people are talking about it (maybe not here but definitely in New Zealand). But this was a risky and pretty reckless stunt. I wonder how much the actor got paid.

South Park

Okay I’m a South Park addict and I’m just beginning to realize how great they are at this whole product placement thing. I mean, they manage to mention a shitload of brands in such a way that they seamlessly weave the products into their plot line, whilst maintaining the humor in the show. (And I’m the type of person who usually gets annoyed when a movie or show that I’m watching is all product placement-y.) Just recently, an episode about KFC franchises turning into medical marijuana dispensaries aired and all I could do was think about how badly I wanted KFC! (To be honest, I’m still craving it.) Other brands/products South Park has advertised include Guitar Hero, Starbucks, Dr. Pepper, Margaritaville, and World of Warcraft. I’m curious to find out just how much money the South Park creators make out of this!

I find that their product placement is quite organic and works fairly well. That doesn’t mean that I don’t notice it, but just that South Park is still so freaking hilarious that it the product placement is more supplementing than imposing. In a way, it makes the plot more relative. I mean, haven’t you ever had one of those days where you just thought, “Damn…I could really go for some KFC right now!” So when Cartman is in hysterics because there ARE NO KFCS AROUND, the situation is just more interesting. However, not everyone shares this opinion. I found a blogger who is strongly against the increasing product placement in South Park:

http://kellitwomey.blogspot.com/2008/10/product-placementon-south-park.html

ZOOMSHOPS?!

Has anyone ever heard of this? Zoomshops by ZoomSystems are automated, self-service stores that allow customers to buy and receive products at the touch of a button. (Well, not really button because Zoomshops are all super-cool and touchscreen. Of course.) Below is the description of the zoomshop for Sephora, a popular beauty brand:

“Sephora gives you instant glamification with an ultra quick, very fun way to shop for makeup, skincare, and fragrance favorites. It’s a cinch: Just select your product, swipe your card, and go! Stroll into select JCPenney stores, malls, and airports and try Sephora’s newest beauty stop for yourself.”

This nation is all about immediacy: we want to know things NOW, we want results NOW, we want our products NOW. We want it so badly that we’ve cut out all the middle men in the retail world: the shopping clerk, cashier, etc. and replaced them with machines. Hey, doesn’t that sound familiar? Probably, since that’s what’s been happening for the past I don’t know how many years. This could be a problem in the future – the rise of inventions such as the Zoomshop could lead to many jobs lost due to people’s technical skills no longer being necessary in the workforce. If technology is faster, more accurate, more reliable and so on, why would we need humans? Something like the Zoomshop could wipe out a serious number of occupations, and the competition to get a job will get tougher and tougher. I have a feeling that we’re not too far from the day when a Havard degree will be necessary just to get a mediocre job opportunity (even without a recession, that is).

YOU KNOW YOU’RE A COMM STUDENT WHEN…

So I was watching the latest episode of Chuck, which is an AWESOME show by the way, and one of the scenes opens with a close-up shot of the Buymore manager, Big Mike, taking a huge bite out of a Subway sandwich. The camera zooms out and you see a tailor taking Big Mike’s measurements as he stands happily on a platform eating his sub. When another character walks in, Big Mike makes a comment about how he’s losing weight – still chomping on the sandwich. The second I saw that, I grabbed my friend and yelled “PRODUCT PLACEMENT!” and then chuckled, silently commending my media literacy skills. This was responded by my friend with a “wtf” look, and then an “are you kidding me shut up I’m trying to watch” look when I began to explain the significance of the Subway sandwich.

Watching TV shows and films critically is a habit that I’ve slowly begun to develop after taking Comm 1 and now taking Comm 2. It’s incredibly interesting to see how seamlessly people can place advertisements into entertainment like said show, and I wonder how effective it is to the target audience: Big Mike is a heavy, middle-aged, African-American man and I assume that the target audience for that Subway advertisement are people who are somewhat in the same group as Big Mike, so doesn’t this sort of clash with the target audience of the TV show, which leans more towards a younger crowd? Even if there are some overweight teenagers out there watching the show, I don’t know if Big Mike is a character that they would relate to enough to pay attention to what he’s saying about his food.

WOODS > OBAMA?

Here’s something that head of CBS Sports, Sean McManus said that I found interesting:

“I think the first tournament Tiger Woods plays again, wherever it is, will be the biggest media event other than the Obama inauguration in the past 10 or 15 years,” McManus told an SI.com reporter after the NCAA basketball tournament draw Sunday.

“It is hard to overestimate how much interest there will be,” McManus said. “Tiger Woods is the most famous, most recognized, most accomplished athlete in the world, and his celebrity and prominence is even larger than it was. When you look at the fact that he gave a very simple press statement with no questions and every broadcast and cable news network in America carried it with great interest, I think that is an indication that whatever he does has enormous interest. And whatever he does on the golf course for the first time since Thanksgiving will be of interest to almost every man and women in this country.”

What with the latest “sexts” porn star Joslyn James has revealed on the internet, I’ll bet that some people who aren’t even interested in golf will be curious enough to tune in to Woods’ first tournament, and it’s definitely not his golf skills people will spend the majority of the time talking about. Organizers have even bumped the ticket prices from its original $200 up to $2,400 for a four-day pass…that’s pretty crazy. Can’t you just taste the ratings?